If you’ve ever wished you could escape this world for another Universe, the winner of this year’s Quantum Shorts flash fiction competition offers a cautionary tale.
In “Acceptable Loss” by Przemysław Zańko, a failed relationship puts the entire multiverse under threat. The story is one of five to claim prizes in the competition for fiction inspired by quantum physics. Each winner receives a cash award, certificate, and an engraved trophy.
The Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) is an international scientific partner for Quantum Shorts, an annual competition for creative work inspired by quantum physics. It is organized by the Centre for Quantum Technologies (CQT) in Singapore with media partners Scientific American and Nature. It has alternated between calls for short films and flash fiction since 2012.
“The level of creativity in all the Quantum Shorts entries was exceptional," said Tobi Day-Hamilton, Director of IQC's Communications and Strategic Initiatives, who was part of the shortlisting panel. "Marrying science and writing into a program like this brings out wonderful imagination and ingenuity. Congratulations to all the entries and winners!”
The 2017 call for fiction ended with 18 stories shortlisted across open and youth categories. From these stories, the judging panels have selected a winner and runner up in each of the Open and Youth category. There is also a People’s Choice winner chosen by public poll on the shortlist. The entries had to include the phrase “There are only two possibilities: yes or no.”
Artur Ekert, Director of CQT and a judge for the open category, was impressed bu the way the competition winners explored the ways in which people and technology interact. "Fiction can make us think more deeply about the human side of science, and that's important to navigate our future," Ekert said.
Przemysław Zańko declared himself “speechless” on winning the US$1500 First Prize in the open category, decided by judges including renowned physicist Brian Greene. “Acceptable Loss” also appealed to writers on the panel. Singaporean author JY Yang liked this story best, noting it “manages to create complex characterization in a short space”.
Runner-up in the Open Category is “From the Ruins of Beijing”, in which Canadian writer Andrew Neil Gray extrapolates from today’s rapid progress in quantum computing into a fictional future where efforts are being derailed by unexplained noise in the machines. Author and judge Tania Hershman called this a “compelling story” with a “great voice from the opening line”.
In the youth category, for writers aged 13-18, three entries claim prizes. Nick Maslov takes first prize for “Two Words” for a well-told story of the end of the Universe. Singaporean writer and cartoonist Otto Fong called it “ambitious and audacious, like Liu Cixin's Death's End". Physicist Chad Orzel said “I love the scope here. The story packs in a ton of physics.”
Runner-up is “End-User Agreement” by Morgan Long. The judges described it as funny, clever and original. For author and judge Mark Alpert, it was a favourite. He offered the unusual compliment that “The author has mastered the art of scientific and technical gibberish.”
The People’s Choice prize – decided by voting across all the shortlisted stories – also goes to a Youth entry. The story “A Future with Fortran” by Lily Turaski took some 30% of the more than 1200 votes cast. Judge Clara Moskowitz, a Senior Editor with Scientific American, liked it too. She said “This piece was smart and funny, with a fun storyline twist and good use of physics concepts and the constraint.”
It’s particularly fitting for this story to claim the People’s Choice award because the Lily wrote the sentence that all entries in 2017 had to include. The sentence was plucked from Lily’s winning 2015 story “The Qubits of College Acceptance”. She noted with her new submission that she “is thrilled to have her superposition sentence emulated in so many alternate realities in the entries of Quantum Shorts 2017.”
Congratulations to the winners! Read all the stories online.
FIRST PRIZE - OPEN Acceptable Loss
RUNNER UP - OPEN From the Ruins of Beijing
FIRST PRIZE - YOUTH Two Words
RUNNER UP - YOUTH End-User Agreement
PEOPLE'S CHOICE A Future with Fortran